I would really like to see that paper. Is it possible to find out how to obtain a copy? Carl > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David > Foster > Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 10:53 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Sam Clemens and bicycle riding > > Thanks for your paper, John. I really enjoyed it, and was especially > taken= > with the idea that the bicycle was the first mode of individual > transporta= > tion not to involve an animal and with your suggestion that it was in a > way= > the precursor of the automobile and the airplane. (Incidentally, I > would g= > ive the canoe - in my view, an almost perfect piece of technology - the > hon= > or of being the first non-animal conveyance, but I'll grant you the > bicycle= > for solid land.) You make a good case for the charm as well as the > influe= > nce of the bicycle.=20 > > -David > > ________________________________________ > From: Mark Twain Forum [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Bird > [birdj1@PE= > OPLEPC.COM] > Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 7:32 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Sam Clemens and bicycle riding > > As Larry Howe said, I gave a paper on Mark Twain and the bicycle at the > San > Diego conference last month. (I sent David the paper this morning, as > well > as a PowerPoint of bicycle pictures.) The main sources are his piece > "Tamin= > g > the Bicycle," as well as his comments in the Autobiography. As is > usual, hi= > s > autobiographical fiction and his autobiography are both not quite > accurate. > Peter Messent notes Twichell's journal, which is more accurate. The > story > condensed: Twichell and Twain bought bicycles in May 1884 and learned > to > ride. Twichell thought that the bicycle might be a good way for him to > visi= > t > parishioners who lived farther out of town. Twain's bicycle was a > Columbia > 50-inch velocipede, also called a penny farthing, with a large front > wheel > and a small rear one. Hartford was the center of bicycle manufacturing > in > America, by the Pope Manufacturing Company, which had a virtual > monopoly on > bicycles in America. As Twain notes, his 50-inch bike was smaller than > the > usual 60-inch wheel; he calls his a "colt," a horse metaphor that runs > all > the way through "Taming the Bicycle." As is usual with him, he > exaggerates > (greatly) his inability to learn to ride, for comic effect. Twichell > write= > s > that the two went on a 25-30 mile ride, more or less successfully. When > the > Clemens family went to Elmira for the summer in 1884, he took his > bicycle > along, but he gave it up because of all the hills. I find it curious > that h= > e > did not publish "Taming the Bicycle," which is quite funny and quite > good, > and especially because he published almost nothing that year, calling > the > summer of 1884 his first lost year for writing in many years. (Of > course, h= > e > was finishing the editing and publication of "Huck Finn," so it was not > a > lost summer at all.) If he had published the piece, he would have been > one > of the first writers to use the bicycle in fiction, as he had done with > the > telephone a few years before. The next year, the safety bicycle was > invented, with wheels of the same size, which made riding much easier. > Readers of "Connecticut Yankee" in 1889 would have already seen the > knights= > ' > bikes as superseded technology--but technology that Hank Morgan would > no > doubt have known in the late 1870s, when he was knocked on the head and > transported to King Arthur's Court. For me, the mental image of Twain > and > Twichell riding through Hartford on velocipedes is an indelible one. > > John Bird > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David > Foster > Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2011 8:21 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Sam Clemens and bicycle riding > > Everyone knows that Hank Morgan is rescued by bicycle riding knights in > the= > =3D > Connecticut Yankee, but does anyone know whether Clemens himself ever > lear= > =3D > ned to ride a bicycle? If so, where could I find an account of > that?=3D20 > > Thanks for any leads, > David=3D=